The transmissions of various types of motor vehicles often fail due to faulty maintenance, use in excessively demanding conditions, or a mere accumulation of high mileage. Such failed transmissions, if properly suited to the vehicle, are typically replaced with a repaired, rebuilt or new transmission of the same type.
In those situations where transmissions in a particular type of vehicle repeatedly fail at low mileage, it is often the case that the transmissions are not properly matched to the vehicle or to the demands of the driving conditions to which the vehicles are being subjected. A vexing example of this problem has been the excessive early failure rate of transmissions in many postal vehicles owing, in part, to a fundamental mismatch of transmission to vehicle and, in part, to the stop-and-go nature of the vehicle's use. More particularly, the United States Postal Service has experienced numerous and repeated transmission failures in its Grumman LLV-A postal vehicles. These vehicles have a long history of experiencing transmission failure at as little as nine to twenty four months into the vehicle's operating life. Rebuilt transmissions of the same design have been installed into these vehicles and appear to have an even shorter life, sometimes as little as several months. The cost to the United States Postal Service in attending to the repairs of these vehicles, accounting for vehicle down time and paying for rebuilt transmissions and installation, is an exceedingly important cost factor to the Postal Service.